1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a rear body structure of an automobile, more particularly to a connecting portion of a rear pillar, rear header, and roof side rail in the rear end of an automobile.
2. Description of the prior art
There is known a rear body structure of automobile which is of a hatch-back type having a corner portion in a rear end of the body wherein a rear pillar, rear header and roof side rail are interconnected with one another. In this type of structure, the corner portion is subjected to forces in the longitudinal, traverse, and up-and-down directions of the body. It will therefore be understood that the corner portion must have a sufficient strength against the forces acting in the various directions.
For this purpose, it has been proposed that the corner portion was constituted by utilizing a rear pillar, rear header, and roof side rail of a closed cross-section. However, the proposed rear body structure cannot provide sufficient strength.
With regard to the corner portion of the rear body structure, Japanese Utility Model Public Disclosure No. 60-43479, filed on Aug. 29, 1983 and laid-open to public inspection on Mar. 27, 1985, discloses a structure in which a rear header is extended outwardly in the transeverse direction of the body to be connected to a rear fender portion to thereby reduce the number of parts incorporated into the rear body structure and improve the dimensional accuracy of the assembly. However, the structure disclosed in the Japanese utility model application is inadequate in structural strength.